PA Game Commission Resolution Comments

Resolution #5) SALISBURY ELK-LICK HUNTING CLUB – Somerset County – Deer & Forest Habitat Management.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) appreciates concerns for our white-tailed deer resource. The PGC will manage deer through appropriate antlerless allocations and seasons and bag limits based on the best available data. Allocations will be set to increase, decrease, or stabilize deer populations as indicated by assessments of data on deer herd health, habitat health, and deer-human interactions.

The reduction in antlerless allocations set at the April 25-26, 2005 Commission Meeting, resulted from population declines in many Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) in recent years. The intent of the reduction is to stabilize deer populations in most WMUs, as we continue assessing deer populations using multiple measures. In more developed WMUs around Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, allocations remained at 2004-05 levels and some hunting opportunities were expanded.

For narrowly defined trouble spots, the PGC provides additional harvest opportunities through the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) or Deer Depredation Permits (Red Tag). These programs are dependent on landowner deer management objectives.

Good habitat is important to all wildlife. On the State Game Lands system that only includes about four percent of the total land area in the Commonwealth, the PGC improves habitat through timber harvests, establishment of food plots, and other techniques. For private landowners, the PGC recently added region wildlife biologists to provide technical assistance. In the last year, region wildlife biologists have begun working with private landowners on wildlife and habitat related issues. As this program matures, we expect to develop a greater capability for delivering habitat services to private landowners.

Intensive habitat management and deer management often bring up discussions of "food plots". Although the PGC establishes and actively manages food plots on SGLs, development of a large-scale food plot program is not currently a part of the PGC's Deer Management Plan. The primary reason for this is one of scale. The goal is to operate an effective statewide deer management program, and the PGC has the financial and personnel resources to manage white-tailed deer at the WMU level. WMUs are thousands of square miles in size. To attempt to develop an effective food plot program on a scale this large would be overwhelming. For those citizens who have the interest and resources, there are numerous sources of information such as magazines, websites, and books of "how-to" information on developing food plots for deer management. Landowners, sportsmen organizations, and others are encouraged to develop food plots, as they desire to enhance habitat and hunting opportunities in their local areas.

We will continue to monitor the deer program and management decisions through research and surveys to provide good stewardship of our deer resource.